The original building dates back to before the 13th century and was expanded in successive phases over the centuries until the 19th century. The church is located in the village of Umin, near Villabruna and a few kilometers from Feltre, in a truly magnificent rural setting protected by the Feltrine peaks, at the gates of the Dolomiti Bellunesi National Park.
Inserted in an ancient rural village the church has remote origins and has undergone various renovations over the centuries.
From a recent hypothesis put forward after the latest restorations (2002), it is believed that the most significant interventions took place in the 13th century, removing the 13th-century west wall of the original nave and raising various parts of the building to bring the entire structure to the same level, and then, in the 17th century, making an additional extension, still towards the west, with the construction of the current apse.
This explains the particular configuration of San Marcello and makes the decorative apparatus complex and not easy to read.
One enters the church from the side of the bell tower.
Right wall
At the bottom, ancient masonry with stones and sand featuring unique schematic designs, painted with red sinopia, some with a brush, others with a color-soaked thread, certainly contemporary, and difficult to interpret. Above: a sequence of 13th-century saints with a partial overlay of a 15th-century "Last Supper."
Left wall:
A small section of masonry with superimposed figures of saints (St. Bartholomew and St. Anthony).
Triumphal arch:
"Annunciation" (1579) and a large laurel wreath tied with ribbon, attributed to Marco da Mel. On the pillars: two panels depicting each a "Madonna with Child," the one on the left is attributed to Antonio Rosso.
Nave with a cross vault featuring the four Fathers of the Church and, in the smaller circles, the symbols of the evangelists.
Finally, the apse:
Seventeenth-century gilded wooden altar, altarpiece by Marco da Mel (1531) depicting Madonna with Child between St. Marcello (to the left) and St. Vittore, with a background landscape that recalls the court of Umin and, higher up, the Castle of Lusa. In 1872, the construction of the plastered masonry altar that incorporates the stone mensa.
On the left absidal wall:
Stories of St. Marcello (16th century) accompanied by writings that tell the life of the saint.
Continuing on the left:
Secondary door and, within frames, "Madonna with Child" and "Adoration of the Magi" by Giovanni da Mel. Then, still on the left, St. Francis and St. Anthony of Padua (1618) and two acronyms that conceal the name of the fresco artist.
The church was cared for by the "da Mel" family throughout the 1500s, which justifies the numerous interventions by Marco, Giovanni, and their father Antonio Rosso.
The cult of St. Marcello dates back to the early centuries. Today, the saint is invoked against ear ailments and is celebrated on January 16th.
